The Gauteng Health Department held talks with lay HIV counsellors and other community health workers this week to discuss options of managing and incorporating them into the health system. Currently, they are employed through various non-governmental organisations and are not recognised as employees of the department.
Read More » Gauteng discusses future of lay counsellors Living with AIDS # 537
About seven million South Africans suffer from some form of arthritis, with roughly three percent having a systemic and inflammatory form which affects more than the joints. This week, Health-e News Service visited Matilda Nkosi, a rheumatoid arthritis sufferer.
Read More » Surviving arthritis
Following a Health-e report last week and after initially denying it, Dr Nomonde Xundu, the head of health in Gauteng, has now confirmed that she is leaving the distressed unit after serving only 11 months of her three-year contract.
Read More » Gauteng head of health is leaving, after allThe benefits of medical male circumcision have been proven to also extend to women. It has been shown that female partners of men who are circumcised have a less risk of contracting the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
Read More » Male circumcision benefits women too
Where government services fail to reach, Tshwane University of Technology students do what they can to help a forgotten poverty-stricken community just outside of Pretoria with food and health awareness campaigns.
Read More » Help for the bush people Living with AIDS # 536
Home-based HIV testing offers families the opportunity to understand and face the virus together. This is a new phenomenon in South Africa, having first been introduced in certain districts of the Mpumalanga and Free State provinces.
Read More » The benefits of family testing Living with AIDS # 535
A vaccine candidate which showed that it can protect against HIV infection by up to 31% when tested in Thailand three years ago will be further tested in South Africa as soon as next year.
Read More » South Africa gets ready for HIV vaccine trial
An international AIDS vaccine conference held in Boston, in America, discussed the importance of community participation in the search for a preventative AIDS vaccine. But how do people feel about participating in scientific clinical research? Ayanda Mkhwanazi, of Health-e News Service, sought their views.
Read More » Community involvement key in hunt for HIV vaccine Living with AIDS # 534Home-based HIV testing, which enables you and your family to have an HIV test in the privacy of your own home without having to go to a health facility, is one of the newest efforts to be introduced to get people to know their HIV status.
Read More » Taking HIV testing to homes Living with AIDS # 532A Medical Research Council (MRC) study warns that as more people move into the cities, their health challenges will become dire. The community of Hospital Hill, in Johannesburg, is a case in point. More than 90 % of the residents live in urban poverty and are unemployed.
Read More » Health risks facing urban population
In South Africa, 310 pregnant women out of every 100 000 die annually as a result of poor care during pregnancy. This is one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world. But these deaths can be avoided.
Read More » Pregnancy needn’t kill Living with AIDS # 531
The Constitutional Court reserved judgment this week in a case that brings into question the Department of Correctional Services' ability to prevent and manage the spread of Tuberculosis in the country's prison facilities.
Read More » Con Court to decide on prison TB Living with AIDS # 530
Seven out of every ten sex workers have been abused by police officials. A survey done by the Women's Legal Centre, shows that sex workers report having been threatened with arrest or forced to sleep with police officials in exchange for their freedom.
Read More » Police brutality still very rife ‘ sex workers
The Health Department in Gauteng has started processing payment of striking AIDS counsellors and home-based carers, but has failed to fulfill its undertaking that all workers would have been paid by now. And the workers say they will remain on strike until all of them have been paid.
Read More » Gauteng counsellors get paid – slowly Living with AIDS # 529
Seventy-five percent of South African women will suffer from vaginal thrush, at least, once in their lifetime. And while the condition may not always be preventable, it is manageable with the correct treatment.
Read More » Understanding vaginal thrush
